Another aspect of modern life is reflected in the last essay I wrote here, about the effects of globalization on our environment. The more homogeneity there is, the more we seek quirk and particularity in others and ourselves. If everyone’s wearing clothes from the same stores and eating food from the same restaurants, we have all the more need to make our own mark, to stand out from the crowd. While the world imposes consistency on us through megabranding, it is also providing us with a lot of tumult and anxiety. We are looking for answers and perspective and sitting down with a blank piece of paper and a pen is a great way to start looking.
It also seems that organized religion hasn’t managed to give us a strong enough sense of meaning in the modern world. I don’t feel that the Pope or the mullahs or the Christian Right are providing any answers I can relate to; instead it seems it’s up to me to get to the bottom of things and chart a path for passing through these troubled waters. Again, slowing down and meditating on the moment with a pen in my hand brings me peace and balance.
Why have you started journaling? And what role does drawing play in it?
I started to think about art journaling this year because of the work I did last year on blogging about the Tao. The Tao attracted me because it was a way to connect with the natural world, and for me, art journaling is a way to connect with the world as a whole, both natural and what we make of it. There is an aspect of writing and drawing about our lives that brings out not only what we may feel internally, but our connection to the world as a whole, and how our part of that world fits into it.
As Americans, we tend to be pretty self-absorbed, and like Danny, I don’t really feel that traditional religion really gives us a path out of that self absorbtion. Sure, there is “love they neighbor” and all of that, but for too many, religion becomes the excuse to sin, rather than the reason not to. If all can be forgiven, than our little daily trangressions become meaningless, right?
But, in thinking daily about our lives, how they relate to others and how we relate to the world, we are forced to confront ourselves. Did we really need to be unkind to someone, or ignore those close to us to satisfy our own desires, or selfishly acquire more and more while seeing every day that much of the world is starving, at war, or suffering from our high standard of living? In confronting these questions about ourselves and our nation, and our place, we grow and change, and learn every day what is working in our lvies, and what is not. And from there, we come to care about the larger world, and begin to ask how we, personally, can make it a better place.
To me, that is the power of journaling. And drawing forces us to notice what is really there, not merely what we imagine is there. We see through our drawings what things we are noticing, what is important to us. Sometimes, we can be very surprised by what that is. And that is the power of art in our lives.
One Response
This was a great post and EXACTLY what I needed to read today. Thank you. Such good insight.